Ripper killer jailed for 30 years

7:35pm Monday 6th October 2008

A killer who tried to emulate Jack the Ripper has been jailed for life for the murder of two young mothers at the start of what may have become a killing spree.

Loner Derek Brown was told he must serve a minimum term of 30 years in prison for killing DVD seller Xiao Mei Guo and prostitute Bonnie Barrett.

Brown, 48, butchered the women in his flat before disposing of their bodies, which have never been found.

An Old Bailey jury found him guilty of both murders after deliberating for less than three hours on Friday.

After the verdicts, relatives of both victims made emotional appeals for the killer to tell them what he had done with their remains.

Police believe he may have killed before and are combing crime files across the country to see if his details match up with other cases.

Brown, who craved notoriety, picked up Mrs Guo and Miss Barrett in the same Whitechapel area of east London stalked by the Ripper more than a century ago.

Already a serial sex attacker, detectives believe he would have become a serial killer if he had not been stopped.

Inquiries have since revealed the convicted rapist was also a suspect in a third "historic" murder hunt outside London.

Brown, a father of seven, has in addition been identified by victims in five other rapes over two decades and is suspected of carrying out further sex attacks.

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